The present invention relates to a pet bowl having a suction cup attached to its base to secure the pet bowl to a floor during use.
Bowls for holding food or water for pets such as dogs are well known, and typically the bowls are formed of a side wall adapted to be rested onto a kitchen floor or the like with an interior dished portion for holding food or water. In use, the pet will place his muzzle in the dished portion and often cause the bowl to slide along the floor. To help secure the pet bowl onto the floor or other supportive surface, it has been proposed to provide a plurality of suction cups on the bottom of the pet bowl, as shown, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,00,123 to Morse et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,167,840 granted to White et al. and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 333,886 to Kennedy.
The multiple suction cups are each relatively small in comparison to the pet bowl, and individual suction cups may be come dislodged as the pet bowl is in use by a feeding animal.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a pet bowl that may be placed on a surface such as a floor and better held in place during use.
According to the present invention, a pet bowl having an interior dished portion for receiving pet food, water or the like has a suction cup held centrally to the underside of the pet bowl for securing the bowl to a surface such as a floor. The suction cup underlies at least a major portion of the lateral extent of the dished portion of the bowl, and the suction cup may be held removably to the bowl by a bracket. Additionally, the surface of the suction cup may have upstanding portions to engage the undersurface of the bracket to depress the suction cup assuredly upon downward movement of the bowl.
The bracket may have a keyed opening, and a knob with an enlarged end may extend upwardly from the suction cup to be fitted within the keyed opening and thereby hold the suction cup removably to the bracket. In this way, the suction cup can be removed and the pet bowl placed, for example, in a dish washer for cleaning without needing to expose the suction cup to the hash environment of an automatic dish washer.
Further, a tab upstanding from the rim portion of the suction cup may be accessed through an opening in the sidewall of the pet bowl for enabling the rim of the suction cup to be lifted and release the suction cup from the floor.